he found the rapid beat of his heart slowed in direct proportion.
‘I heard the last part of what Thierry said to you.’
He hadn’t liked the way Thierry had asked Mia to stay behind. It was why he’d doubled back—to make sure everything was okay.
‘It’s not the first time someone has taken exception to my past, Dylan, and I expect it won’t be the last.’
Her revelation yesterday had shocked him—prison!—but he’d have had to be blind not to see how much she regretted that part of her life. He’d sensed her sincerity in wanting to create a new, honest life for herself. She’d paid dearly for whatever mistakes lay in her past. As far as he was concerned she should be allowed to get on with things in peace.
Thierry’s threat, the utter contempt in his voice...
Dylan’s hands clenched. It had been a long time since he’d wanted to knock someone to the ground. He’d wanted to deck Thierry, though. He’d wanted to beat the man black and blue.
He dragged a hand down his face. It had only been the thought of who’d pay for his actions—Mia—that had stopped him.
You didn’t even think of Carla!
Mia stared up at him, her gaze steady. ‘Don’t blame Thierry. He only has Carla’s welfare in mind.’
‘It doesn’t excuse his behaviour.’ A scowl scuffed through him. ‘The man’s a bully and a jerk. What the hell does Carla see in him?’
She gestured that they should continue along the path towards the amphibian house. ‘Don’t you know?’
He didn’t have a single clue.
‘Haven’t the two of you talked about him?’
Not really. But to say as much would only reveal what a poor excuse for a brother he’d been to Carla these last twelve months.
He glanced across at Mia and found that she’d paled again, but before he could ask her if she was okay she’d plunged into the darkness of the amphibian house. Was she worried about running into Thierry again?
He plunged right in after her.
‘Do you want to linger?’
He couldn’t have said how he knew, but he sensed the tension coiling through her. ‘No.’
She led them back outside and gulped in a couple of breaths. She stilled when she realised how closely he watched her.
He reached out to stop her from moving on. ‘What’s wrong?’
She glanced away. ‘What makes you think anything’s wrong?’
When she turned back, he just shrugged.
Her shoulders sagged. ‘I’d rather nobody else knew this.’
Silently, he crossed his heart.
She looked away again. ‘I don’t like the nocturnal houses. They make me feel claustrophobic and closed in.
They were like being in jail!
He had to stiffen his legs to stop himself from pitching over.
‘I’m fine out here on the walkways, where we’re above or beside the enclosures and aviaries, but the nocturnal houses are necessarily dark...and warm. The air feels too close.’
She finished with a deprecating little shrug that broke his heart a little bit.
In the next moment he was gripped with an avid need to know everything about her—were her parents still alive? How had they treated her when she was a child? What made her happy? What did she really want from life? What frightened her right down to her bones? What did she do in her spare time? What made her purr?
That last thought snapped him back. He had no right to ask such questions. He shouldn’t even be considering them. What he should be doing was working out if Carla was about to make the biggest mistake of her life. That was what he should be focussed on.
‘What about when you’re down below?’ he found himself asking anyway. ‘When you have to go into the cages to clean them out...to feed the animals?’
He saw the answer in her eyes before she drew that damn veil down over them again.
‘It’s okay. It’s just another part of the job.’
Liar. He didn’t call her on it. It was none of his business. But it begged the question—why was Mia working in a place like this when enclosed spaces all but made her hyperventilate?
They found Carla and Thierry waiting for them beside the kangaroo enclosure.
The moment she saw Mia, Carla grabbed her arm. ‘I want to become a volunteer!’
Mia smiled as if she couldn’t help it ‘Volunteers are always welcome at Plum Pines.’
Her tone held no awkwardness and Dylan’s shoulders unhitched a couple of notches. Thierry’s strictures hadn’t constrained the warmth she showed to Carla, and he gave silent thanks for it.
Thierry pulled Mia back to his side, gently but inexorably. ‘Stop manhandling the staff, Carla.’
Dylan lifted himself up to his full height. ‘That’s an insufferably snobbish thing to say, Thierry.’
Carla’s face fell and he immediately regretted uttering the words within her earshot.
Thierry glared back at him. ‘You might be happy consorting with criminals, Dylan, but you’ll have to excuse me for being less enthused.’
‘Ex.’ Mia’s voice cut through the tension, forcing all eyes to turn to her. ‘I’m an ex-criminal, Mr Geroux. Naturally, I don’t expect you to trust me, but you can rest assured that if my employers have no qualms about either my conduct or my ability to perform the tasks required of me, then you need have no worries on that head either.’
‘We don’t have qualms!’ Carla jumped in, staring at Thierry as if a simple glare would force him to agree with her.
Thierry merely shrugged. ‘Is volunteering such a good idea? You could catch something...get bitten...and didn’t you notice the frightful stench coming from the possums?’
‘Oh, I hadn’t thought about the practicalities...’
She glanced at Mia uncertainly and Dylan wanted to throw his head back and howl.
‘You’d need to be up to date with your tetanus shots. All the information is on the Plum Pines website, and I can give you some brochures if you like. You can think about it for a bit, and call the volunteer co-ordinator if you have any questions.’
Thierry scowled at her, but she met his gaze calmly. ‘Maybe it’s something the two of you could do together.’
Carla clapped her hands, evidently delighted with the idea.
Thierry
